Roger Ver Ups 200+ BTC For Sanders-Kokesh Showdown

With the election season in full swing, there are a lot of people clamoring to be heard. This is because elections are the perfect platform for many of their pet causes to get the exposure they need. An ideal example of this is the Bitcoin debate challenge that Roger Ver sent out to Bernie Sanders, the other possible Democratic presidential candidate. Ver promises to donate $100,000 in Bitcoin to the charity of Sander’s choice, if Sander agrees to participate in a debate with Adam Kokesh, an Iraq war vet and radio personality.

The challenge itself

The combination of Bernie Sanders, Roger Ver, and Adam Kokesh may seem like a sitcom in the making, with the left-leaning democrat, the capitalist angel investor, and the libertarian activist making strange bedfellows. Admittedly, the debate is more adversarial in nature.

Ver recently took offense from a video released by ‘Occupy Democrats,’ a political organization in support of Sanders’ campaign. The video showed Sanders being excessively critical of wealthy US citizens who have renounced their citizenship to avoid paying taxes. A quote from the video summarizes the candidate’s view:

“These great lovers of America who made their money in this country, when you ask them to start paying their fair share of taxes they’re running abroad.”

This hit Roger Ver especially close to home when the video showed him as an example of the type of irresponsible individual being decried by Sanders, considering his renouncement of US citizenship in 2014 after he made his fortune as a Bitcoin entrepreneur and owner of bitcoin.com. Ver countered what he viewed as an attack with a video of his own. Posted to Adam Kokesh’s YouTube channel, Ver’s video justifies his point of view that the taxes that he would have paid would have been used to fund the wars that Sanders himself positioned himself against in his campaign.

As Ver continues in his video, he decried the patriotism that Sanders was championing, classing it with racism as a disgusting ideology. The video continues with Ver exhorting rich Americans to stop paying taxes to stop unnecessary wars. It ends with Ver’s challenge to Sanders, promising $100,000 divided into two parts to the charities of Sanders’s and Kokesh’s choice.

Higher Bitcoin profile

The politics behind the debate are interesting, but what is important about this Bitcoin debate challenge is the fact that it can raise the profile of Bitcoin even higher. This can be surprising to those who work in the Bitcoin industry, but the cryptocurrency is still not as prevalent as it could be. Having Bitcoin as the sponsor of a debate with a potential presidential candidate is publicity that Bitcoin supporters have always wanted.

No matter who wins, the exposure that Bitcoin can receive will only be positive as people get introduced to the cryptocurrency. It does not hurt that the money will be used for charity, either.

As of press time, Sanders has not responded to Ver’s challenge. If he accepts, though, people can expect a surge in interest in Bitcoin in the near future—one that can possibly give the Bitcoin price a nudge. It also becomes a question whether or not Sanders’ acceptance of the debate with Kokesh will increase the presidential candidate’s run to represent the Democratic Party.

Bitcoin prediction market websites like BitBet.us and Predictious both show Sanders as inferior to Hillary Clinton while many also bet their bitcoins on the least likely possibility that Sanders will be this year’s Democrat’s presidential nominee. The bets on BetMoose even favor Clinton to win in the 2016 US presidential election.